When Zamboni is sleeping, I knock on the floor (or the wall) first, pounding a bit harder each time. The vibrations stir her from her deep sleep, so that when I wake her up, it's not just a shock (often, the vibrations wake her up themselves).
I've trained Camper to "Go get Zamboni" and he trots off and brings her in when she can't hear me calling for her to come. They both come trotting up, very pleased with themselves.
I second (third) Hand signals. Even if your dog never learned hand signals (Zamboni had not), it's not too late to teach them. Use lots of treats and train them as a brand new skill. Your dog will watch you, your hands, your body and your face for signals of what to do. Use all of these to your advantage.
For example, we use a golf swing motion that means "go this way" ("this way" being wherever our arms and head end up pointing). Dogs don't attenuate if you just point your finger or hand, but if your whole body points a certain way, they will. If you look a certain direction, they'll often look that way. Be creative and use your body to create a new language for Sheba.
Sometimes, I just have run up to tap her on the shoulder and signal what I want her to do next. She's gotten used to me tapping her on the shoulder, so it's not a surprise to her. If I tap her on different parts of her body each time, it might be. So it's always the shoulder.
I keep lamb treats in my pockets when we go in the yard, at the park, etc. She sees me putting them in my pocket and I feed her itty bitty bits while when she runs up to me. It's taught her to keep ME within close range too.
Before dinner, I put a small piece of meat in a small bowl in 1/2" of water in the microwave. The smell yells out "Dinnertime!" louder than I ever could, and she comes running! (I then pour the water over her kibble.
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I used to walk her off leash all the time. She's still perfectly reliable and walks a couple steps behind me to know where I'm going, but I've realized that she likes the security of the leash. She has a more relaxed walk that way, even in places you'd never expect to have to leash a dog. She can just cruise along on the leash instead of trying to figure out what I'm going to do next.
Finally, losing hearing doesn't have to mean loss of an active lifestyle. Zamboni started losing her hearing about 2 years ago. Last month, we started our first ever agility class. I signal, run ahead of her, and signal some more. I use treats to lure until she understands what I want, then she knows what I mean by a certain signal. And she loves it! It's not as easy as the young dogs who are just told "jump" or "tunnel" and they know what to do next. But she's figured it out (and now, seeing the tunnel in front of her, she knows what to do). It takes some adjustments, that's all.
